Perhaps we could get one of the resident-more-business-oriented forum regulars to elaborate on just what this 'might' mean. Personally I'm without a clue.

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TPQ is a private equity firm that specializes in acquiring distressed companies. Thus their interest in only the underperforming camera division. In plain terms they are "vulture" captialists, the term made popular by Newt. They look for weak companies and then sweep in hoping to buy them for pennies on the dollar and take the company private. Many times, a weak company's stock is worth less than the book value of the company. Then the private equity firm will either break it apart and sell the assets or try to turn the company around and take it public again. It depends on what they think will get them the most gain. So when they say they have "notified other possible suitors including Sony, Canon, Fujifilm, and Panasonic". They are basically saying "Back off, this carcass is mine." Thus hoping the other companies will step back instead of getting into a bidding war driving up the price.

TPQ is a private equity firm that specializes in acquiring distressed companies. Thus their interest in only the underperforming camera division. In plain terms they are "vulture" captialists, the term made popular by Newt. They look for weak companies and then sweep in hoping to buy them for pennies on the dollar and take the company private. Many times, a weak company's stock is worth less than the book value of the company. Then the private equity firm will either break it apart and sell the assets or try to turn the company around and take it public again. It depends on what they think will get them the most gain. So when they say they have "notified other possible suitors including Sony, Canon, Fujifilm, and Panasonic". They are basically saying "Back off, this carcass is mine." Thus hoping the other companies will step back instead of getting into a bidding war driving up the price.

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Thankyou. Thankyou that is exactly what I had hoped for by way of explanation.

TPQ is a private equity firm that specializes in acquiring distressed companies. Thus their interest in only the underperforming camera division. In plain terms they are "vulture" captialists, the term made popular by Newt. They look for weak companies and then sweep in hoping to buy them for pennies on the dollar and take the company private. Many times, a weak company's stock is worth less than the book value of the company. Then the private equity firm will either break it apart and sell the assets or try to turn the company around and take it public again. It depends on what they think will get them the most gain. So when they say they have "notified other possible suitors including Sony, Canon, Fujifilm, and Panasonic". They are basically saying "Back off, this carcass is mine." Thus hoping the other companies will step back instead of getting into a bidding war driving up the price.

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I think that's a little bit of a negative spin on what they do.
My knowledge of TPG comes from the motorcycle world. They bought Ducati in the late '90s, when the company was on the verge of bankrupcy. I had one of the last pre-TPG bikes, and it was crap. Horrible quality control, limited parts availability, dealer network was terrible. TPG poured in a bunch of money and saved the company. Ducati is a far, far stronger brand now, sells many more bikes and employs many more people. TPG sold out a few years ago, and made a nice profit. Money well earned in my opinion.

I think that's a little bit of a negative spin on what they do.
My knowledge of TPG comes from the motorcycle world. They bought Ducati in the late '90s, when the company was on the verge of bankrupcy. I had one of the last pre-TPG bikes, and it was crap. Horrible quality control, limited parts availability, dealer network was terrible. TPG poured in a bunch of money and saved the company. Ducati is a far, far stronger brand now, sells many more bikes and employs many more people. TPG sold out a few years ago, and made a nice profit. Money well earned in my opinion.

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That's the "try to turn the company around and take it public again" part of what I was saying. It depends on what they think will bring them the most profit. They did more than pour in a bunch of money. At first, they bought half the company. Waited a couple of years and then bought the other half. Then they turned right around and took it public again to raise capital by selling off as much of the company as possible yet retain full control. A few years later they sold off the rest.

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